General Lokujo’s attack against SPLA-IO last week constitutes a crime – Angelina Teny

JUBA – South Sudan’s defense minister Angelina Teny has said that last week’s attack against SPLA-IO forces in Central Equatoria’s Moroto by former opposition commander, General Moses Lokujo, constitutes a crime saying teh culprit will face justice.

Teny who is also the SPLM/SPLA (IO) chairperson of security and defense made the remarks on Wednesday in Moroto following attacks against SPLA-IO forces there by General Lokujo who switched allegiance from FVP and SPLM-IO chairman Dr. Riek Machar to President Salva Kiir Mayardit on September 21.

Following the fighting, General Lokujo was summoned by the Joint Defense Board (JDB), a security mechanism established under the terms of the revitalized peace agreement, to Juba, but told Sudans Post on Monday that he was not going until SPLA-IO forces are dislodged from Moroto training centre.

Speaking to SPLA-IO soldiers following her arrival to Moroto on Wednesday evening, Teny said the peace parties condemn the attack, and that teh culprit will be brought to justice because he was trying to jeopardize the peace process.

“What happened here we condemn it in the strongest term possible,” Teny said. “The attack on this centre is a crime and is condemned and the culprit will be accounted for this eventually because the people who are being trained here are being prepared so that they become the unified army of this country.”

The senior government official said the attack against the SPLA-IO forces in Moroto or anywhere else in the country is a violation of both the revitalized peace agreement and the ceasefire agreement that preceded the signing of the revitalized deal in June 2018.

She accused General Lokujo of working to undermine the relative peace which came about as result of the commitment of the parties to the agreement to end the deadly six-year-old civil war.

“We also condemn it because it is a violation to the peace agreement and a violation to the ceasefire agreement. It is not supposed to happen. We have just be briefed by your commander of the training center that since they have started making relationship with the SSPDF in Yei, they stopped fighting or offensive against anyone,” she said.

“Moses Lokujo wants to incite and return the situation to a square one, but we will not accept this. We want you to restore confidence with your brothers and return to your normal life before [General] Moses [Lokujo] could leave this place,” she added.

she further appealed to the SPLA-IO forces to restore confidence and trust with their SSPDF counterparts so that a smooth implementation of the security arrangements provided for in the agreement is not endangered.

“We want to assure you that the peace agreement is real. We, your representatives, are in Juba as part of the government and the government is one and the goal of this government is  to realized peace,” she said.

“So, any incident that happens in between, it must to be addressed with dialogue and accountability. It cannot be resolved with counter-attack and that is why this investigation is important,” she further added.